What if~Korea Unified?
This here is a picture of me and my girlfriend: Jennie. Jennie is from South Korea (she came from somewhere near it's capital of Seoul), the Korean Peninsula is still divided from a war that ended indecisively due to the scare of an all-out nuclear war. Even after that scare is over, the scare of another war in Korea still looms large over the entire world. But what if in an alternate scenario, the Korean War ended in a decisive victory and the entire Peninsula was unified under one banner? This is what this page will try to cover, but first some context, just scroll down to the "What if?" part of this page if you just want to read about the alternate scenario. Real History Note: ''This is just a simplification of the telling of the Korean War, if you want to know about the War in more detail just click Here. Korea was occupied by Japan in the 1910's, but was liberated by both the Americans and the Soviets after World War 2, but as Korea was liberated by the Japanese, Korea was left at a crossroads: either be governed by democracy or communism. Both the Allied occupied south and the Soviet occupied North went through a lot of leadership changes (much like a celebrity who goes through their wardrobe). By 1949, the Soviets have selected ''Kim-Il Sung as the leader of North Korea and even begins to plan to unify Korea, but the Soviets told him that they will not give him military aid if he went along with this, and he did just that in 1950. Believing that he can unify the Peninsula in a short period of time, and that the USA wouldn't get involved, he thought that his plans would work perfectly. Unfortunately for Il Sung, the USA did care enough to intervene, and they sent troops into South Korea to fend off the communists. Just as soon as Il Sung's forces invaded the South, the South Korean forces alongside the USA fended off Il Sung's forces and have taken P'yongyang and even driving the North Koreans all the way to the North Korean-Chinese border. Though, the newly established communist government in China (led by Mao-Tse-Tung) saw this as a threat as Tung believed that once the North Koreans were dealt with the Americans would turn their attention to China. This is when in the beginning of 1951, the Chinese People's Liberation Army have stormed into the Korean Peninsula. The North Koreans and the Chinese have pushed back the South Koreans and the Americans back down to the Southern regions and briefly took Seoul, but the South Koreans and the Americans were able to re-take Seoul and have stopped the Communist advance in July of 1951, and this would begin a 2-year long deadlock. By 1953, both sides agreed to a cease fire. What started out as a short, fast conflict, ended in a stalemate lasting for 2 years. Still to this day, both sides are at odds and most fear (even those who don't live in Korea) of another war in the tiny Peninsula. What if? Now, here is the question of the day. What if the Korean War ended decisively and the enitre Korean Peninsula was unified just as the Koreans wanted? Now, because there are 2 sides in Korea, there will be 2 alternate scenarios, one where the South wins, and another where the North wins. Scenario 1~South Korea wins This is an unlikely scenario as most communists in right mind would not like Capitalism prevailing in any kind of war (despite that the Soviets were true to their word on not aiding Kim-Il-Sung in his campaign for South Korea). So, the only way that this alternate scenario would work is if Mao-Tse-Tung doesn't see the USA as a threat as he did in our reality, and doesn't send troops into Korea. Parts of the Korean War in this alternate reality are played out like it did in our reality, South Korea and the USA push the communist forces out of the Korean Peninsula, taken P'yongyang and have liberated the entire Peninsula, but as mentioned before Mao-Tse-Tung doesn't care much enough about the war to send any troops into the Peninsula. So, what happens now? As what happened in the Korean War in our reality, the South Koreans would perform mass anti-communist purges all over the Peninsula, in our reality as many as around 200,000 communist Koreans were executed, in this alternate reality more Koreans loyal to the communism would be executed and it would also happen on a much grander scale. But not everything in a Capitalist Korean Republic would be so honky-dory. In our reality, it took nearly 30 years after the war for South Korea to get back on it's feet as it was in economic and political ruin. In this alternate reality however with a Southern victory in the Korean War, it would take longer for Korea to recover from the war, there would even be a chance where it may never fully recover from the Korean War. Things wouldn't just be confined to the Korean Peninsula, this would also have somewhat of an effect on the Cold War, in this alternate reality with Capitalism winning over Communism, the USA and Western Europe would try to use this to boost Capitalist and Democratic morale. In the USA, the Korean War wouldn't be known as the "Forgotten War" as it is in our reality, but a conflict where the USA and Democracy has crushed Communism and would even try to use this victory to teach it's citizens on how weak communism is. Meanwhile in Communist nations such as China and the USSR, things wouldn't be so nice. Because in this alternate reality Mao-Tse-Tung didn't act against the USA and South Korea plowing through the Korean Peninsula, this would only make the situation between the already souring relationship between China and the USSR worse than it was in our reality. Perhaps China would leave the Warsaw Pact earlier than it did in our reality. Going into the alternate Modern Era, Capitalism would dominate East Asia. Though, South Korea wouldn't be anywhere near like it's neighbor: Japan as it'll more than likely still be in some kind of funk either it be politically or economically. Scenario 2~North Korea Wins Another unlikely scenario as the USA wouldn't sat back and let the communists take over Korea (as Kim-Il-Sung predicted) But let's say in this alternate reality, Kim-Il-Sung was right and the USA doesn't care much about the war to intervene. Without the USA to help them, South Korea would have fallen and in a few short months Kim-Il-Sung would have achieved his goal to unify the entire Korean Peninsula. In this alternate reality with a Northern victory in the Korean War, the entire Korean Peninsula would be under Communism (no duh). But like in the first alternate scenario, this would give one side a political and social advantage in the Cold War, only in this alternate scenario it would be Communism that would have this particular advantage and Capitalism would be delivered a huge political blow. On the other hand, this could also work out for the USA and Western Europe. In our reality and because the USA was too busy in the Korean War it was unable to help France as it dealt with an Uprising in French Indochina (modern day Vietnam) and of course it'll eventually lead to the Vietnam War which the USA *did* get involved in. In this alternate reality with a Northern Victory in the Korean War, and because the USA didn't intervene it actually helps France in the Indochina Uprising, thus preventing the Vietnam War and with some parts of Southeast Asia still being under French control. With the Vietnam War never happening in this alternate reality, the Baby Boomer Generation of the 1960's isn't as divided as it is in our reality, and with it the Hippy Counter Culture movement is either a minority mostly ignored by the masses or never happens. So the Awakening generation turn happens later in the history of the USA. In East Asia however, with Communism dominating. The only democratic nation in the region would be Japan. Their relationship with the west would be a sour one since the USA didn't care about the Korean Peninsula, and because of this the US occupation of Japan lasts longer than it did in our reality. But at the same time, Japan would be demanding aid from the west (namely the USA) so Japan can better deal with a more hostile East Asia with a Communist Korea as well as China and the USSR. Even with the fall of the Communist government in Russia, China and a Communist Korea would loom large over Japan for decades, which would be hard on both Japan and the Democratic west. China can also share some of the same story as well. As we know that in our reality, China knew the error of their ways with Mao-Tse-Tung's oppressive policies (especially the Cultural Revolution) and with this as well as the stalemate of the Korean War, it had gave in to some democtratic forms especially those of the economic variety (hence why China today is slowly but surely recovering). In this alternate reality, China has a bigger communist ally to lean on in Communist Korea, and would be a bit more stubborn in trying for any kind of democratic reforms. Would we see a growing tension of a conflict in East Asia? Hard to say. It may be like in the Korean War in our reality where the USSR said it wouldn't aid in Kim-Il Sung's campaign, the same may happen for Kim-Jong-Un as China wouldn't support him if he begins a war with, say Japan or even the USA even if China is a better ally in this alternate reality. Well, that is it for this page. What do you think would happen if Korea unified? Don't forget to check out my Games and Movies wikis as well. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.